Largo Medical Center is First Hospital Statewide to Perform Robotic Live Kidney Donation

The Transplant Institute of Florida at Largo Medical Center is the first hospital in Florida to perform robotic nephrectomies, surgical removal of a kidney, for living organ donors. Traditionally, kidney donor surgery was performed open or laparoscopically with or without hand assistance.

"Thanks to this robotic technology, a living kidney donation can now be performed in a shorter period of time," said Hussein Osman-Mohamed, MD, PhD, FACS, Chief of the Transplant Institute of Florida at Largo Medical Center. "He or she will have a smaller incision and go home sooner than ever before with less post-op pain and a shorter recovery time."

Encouraging live kidney donation by performing a robotic nephrectomy has advantages for the recipient including better graft survival and immediate graft function. It increases the donor pool and decreases the amount time people are on the wait list said Dr. Osman-Mohamed.

"This is an amazing opportunity for people who are considering this life-saving venture, giving those in our community and beyond one more reason to make Largo Medical Center their hospital of choice," said Anthony Degina, CEO at Largo Medical Center.

Currently there are more than 121,000 people awaiting a kidney transplant in the United States. Per the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), in 2017, there were 6,183 living kidney donors across the country.